About

Thank you for visiting our website. My name is Gail Kraker. I moved to St. Augustine in 2011 with my hubby, Jeff, and our three coconut retrievers.

Like many others, I fell in love with the lions on the bridge. Where else in the New World do we see century old, hand sculpted Carrara marble statues of anything, much less beautiful lions?

I spent a year searching for small replicas of the lions for our home and got only disappointment.

After three more years of wondering why, and thinking people who love St. Augustine deserve better, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

I made it my mission to bring the first and only marble replicas of the lions on the bridge, Faithful & Firm, to all who want replicas of the city’s icons in their own homes.

It took a full year and was no easy task. I wanted the statuettes to be made of Carrara marble, just like the lions on the bridge.

I'm tired of inexpensive Chinese products that don't last and wanted something of quality to offer you.

I looked into statue makers for months and was unhappy with the quality of what I saw. I gave up out of frustration. I'm tired of cheap Chinese products that don't last and wanted something of quality to offer you. Then one day, on a lark, I made just one more search. To my surprise, I came up with the perfect Old World statue makers in Staffordshire, England. They make Carrara marble life size statues as well as tiny statuettes, like these lions, for some of the most prestigious galleries and art museums in Europe. I personally believe them to be the best marble statue makers on earth.

I worked with the statue makers for eight grueling months to make sure the statuettes are true replicas of the lions on the bridge, down to having the same inscription along their sides.

It took three time-consuming iterations for the artisans to make the lions just the way l knew you would want them.

It took another two months to get the first order from the statue makers. You see, the artisans are highly sought after and it takes time for them to get to the next order. Each set of lions comes from a single set of molds and only one set of lions can be cast each day. The artisans then do the fine hand-sculpted details on the lions.

Two months after the first order arrived, the photos and website were completed and I was ready to bring you the Ancient City icons you’ve been searching for.

Jeff helps out by being supportive and by taking the packages to the Post Office. He also makes sure I pack them right. 😉🦁🦁

I hope you’ll love the little lions as much as I do. They bring joy to our home and they've become almost human to me.